The Death of Sports as we know it…

If you’ve been following the news lately, there’s a lot of news about sports.

Not much of it good. Let’s take a brief look at the latest…

The NHL season is off again, after nearly being on, after being called off, after being called off at the beginning of the season.

Jose Conseco comes out and claims everybody, including the bat boy, been juicing. Including graphic tales of needles in bathroom stalls.

Tedy Bruschi, linebacker for the New England Patriots, has a stroke(!) a few weeks after his team wins the Super Bowl.

Long gone are the days when you could take a family of four to a game and enjoy an evening out, have a few hot dogs, etc. for under a $100.

This could spell the death of sports as we now know it. No longer will the kids be able to look up to their heros in the big leagues.

But, on the bright side, it’s been years since atheltes have given a damn about the kids. Refusing to sign autographs, etc. But now maybe the kids will be able to visit their favorite atheltes, in person. Of course, we’ll have to drive them down to the state pen. Visiting hours between 1 and 5.

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Sports has been through a lot worse than this, and has survived just fine. The Canseco thing is nothing compared to the abbreviated ’94 baseball season, which truly alienated fans… until Sosa-McGuire. With the Red Sox having won a World Series, much scandal will be forgiven in baseball for some time to come. I would wager that if you had a report come out certifying the Canseco claim of 80% steroid use by plyers druing a Cubs-Red Sox World Series, the report would be dismissed by the fans.

You didn’t mention the NBA, and that makes sense because they have a real jewel in LeBron James, who comes right when the NBA neaded someone to begin to fill Michael Jordan’s shoes.

Bruschi had a stroke, not an OD. The public has been extremely supportive of Tedy, as you might expect.

The NHL is in trouble, though. Hockey isn’t really very popular in the US, it pains me to say. So, to kill a whole season is really self-destructive. Mainly, the NHL has very little going for it with TV in the US. Now that a season has been killed, what network would be eager to sign a contract with the League?

http://www.angel-and-soulmate-selfhelp.com/blog.html Angela Chen Shui

Hmmm… on the other hand, older traditions such as martial arts are on the up… karate has now been admitted into the Olympics, 2012.

They even say it builds character! 😉

sydney

It’s Ironic that the very thing that is killing most major North American sports, is the same thing that is sorely missing in the NHL. That is, Media attention.

Basketball, and especially football, are so damned over hyped that the games are continuously a let down. Morever, it takes the most ardent fan to avoid being cynical about the commercialism that is eating those leagues from the inside out. It just needs to be toned down.

On the other hand, hockey needs a substantial tv contract with one of the big American Networks badly. Increased exposure to the southern states is key to the leauges success.

In any case, I think the NHL will make many serious changes at the start of next season. Certainly they will remove the redline, but hoepfully they will also widen the ice surface.

Now that they are forced to make some sweeping changes mayeb things will be on the up and up from here on. Here’s hoping…

Eric Olsen

I agree a central, and relatively new, issue is pricing the average fan out of the market to actually attend games, which will always be the ur sports experience. This is very stupid and self-destructive.

http://www.kolehardfacts.blogspot.com Mike Kole

Sydney- While a lack of media hurts the NHL, there is one other thing hockey does differently than the other pro sports, to poor effect- the game has become more defensive-minded, while the other sports update the rules to make their games more high-scoring.

Thus, I can see removing the red line, and I’m begrudgingly becoming sold on widening the rinks.

This latter is tough for me, because I loved the old smaller rinks, like the old Boston Garden and Chicago Stadium. The players were closer together as a result, and the play was vastly more physical.

However, when The Trap came into prominence, all the smaller playing surface did was ensure that the trap was more effective, and play stayed in the neutral zone. Widening to international specs could help break the trap, which would be a real blessing.

To me, the best days of hockey were the 80’s and early 90’s, prior to the widespread use of the trap and the larger goalie equipment. Games were high-scoring, and there was plenty of fighting. Gretzky, Bossy, and Lemieux scoring, Probert, Coxe, and Domi fighting. It was glorious!

Oh, yeah. Let’s get rid of the stupid instigator rule.

sydney

Agreed, the players have grown and are faster than ever before (with better training, equipment and improving diet etc.). Why shoudl we maintain teh same size rink when everything else has grown bigger and faster.